The historic agreement 195 nations endorsed to curb global warming should be hailed by all on Earth, as it gives hope that the world can do many things to prevent man-made calamites and leave a better environment to our descendants.
The accord, reached in Paris on Saturday, set a target of keeping warming of the planet to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius by the year 2100 compared to that during the Industrial Revolution.
The participating countries also agreed to endeavor to limit even to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Scientists say the world has already warmed by about 1 degree Celsius since preindustrial times.
In order to achieve the goal, 187 countries submitted voluntary plans to curb greenhouse gases from 2020. South Korea, which is the world’s seventh-largest emitter, pledged to reduce its emissions by 37 percent from the previous projected level for 2030.
It is most noteworthy that this time both developed and developing countries joined the agreement. The previous emissions treaty, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, included only rich countries, but the U.S. never signed on and big emitters like China and India were not included.
In Paris, developing nations insisted rich countries must shoulder the lion’s share of responsibility for tackling climate change as they emitted most of the greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. Developed nations countered that emerging giants like China must also do more because they now account for so much of current emissions.
In this regard, the Paris accord also did well to provide ground for developed countries mustering at least $100 billion a year from 2020 to help developing nations, although it was not included in the legally binding section of the deal due to objections from the U.S.
There is no doubt, as the accord states, that without urgent action, mankind will face increasingly severe droughts, floods and storms as well as rising sea levels due to excessive use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas.
Ending this change requires a big and bold shift to cleaner and renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, and improving energy efficiency. As President Park Geun-hye pledged in Paris, South Korea should join the global efforts actively.
